Card game.



PATENTED NOV. 15, 1904. J. H. WHITELAW.

CARD GAME.

APPLICATION FILED F3317, 1904.

H0 MODEL.

STRADDLE CARD. C

No GAIN. No Loss; ON 'mvg 0 m3 amuvaig f BALT.&OHIO J4 N.Y.C ENT.

15H. 1 SH. LONG SHORT Sid Sid Z 1 UP. an DOWN NMOfl d2 /4 hr PTS, 1) PTS.

awoq LHOHQ Hg I HSI OIHOQZL'IVE -N 'J'XN Witn 66666. in vfinio 7 m KWW UNITED STATES Patented November 15, 1904.

JAMES HERBERT WVHITELAIV, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CARD GAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 75,072, dated November 15, 1904.

Application fil d February 17, 1904. Serial No. 194,073- (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES HERBERT WVHITE- LAW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new, original, and entertaining Game to be Played with Cards, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to so design, arrange, and play a pack of cards that the players may imagine that they are making aetual transactions in the stock-market, going long of the market, going short of the market, or straddling the market, as they choose, and in which their gain orloss is dependent upon the final closing of the market as indicated by a market-card hereinafter described. I attain this object by the method of play as set forth below and by the designs of the cards as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents the straddle card. Fig. 2 represents the general design of what I shall hereinafter call the longcards. Fig. 3 represents the general design of what I shall hereinafter call the short cards.

The pack is made up of one so-called straddle card and two general groups of cards-t0 wit, one group-of cards, called short cards, each of which bears on its face a symbol indicating that it is a short card and one group of cards, called long cards, each of which bears upon its face asymbol indicating that it is a long card. Each of these groups is subdivided into small groups or series, each series including, preferably, six cards, and all the cards of the several series bear on their faces the characteristic name of some marketable stock. By marketable stock is not meant necessarily an actual stock-such as is dealt in on the New York Stock Exchange, for example; but any name which may stand for marketable stock or a marketable commodity is intended to be included by the term marketable stock as used herein. Each series contains the same number of cards, preferably six, and there may be any number of series of cards, although the number of series should correspond with the number of players. I

with each card is printed upon the face of the card-as, for example, as indicated by reference-letter c in Figs. 2 and 3. Some symbolas, for example, the word long as it appears in Fig. 2should be printed on the long cards A, or the word short as it appears in Fig. 3 should also printed upon the face of the short cards B to indicate which are short and which are long cards. Prefer ably also on each card should be figures indicating a certain number of points up or down, as the case may be. These indications are designated by the reference-letter on Figs. 2 and 3. The straddle card bears upon its face the words straddle card or some other suggestive name and preferably also the words No loss, No gain.

The game may be played with the described cards in the following manner: The cards are shuflled and cut and dealt around one at a time until each player has six cards. The remaining card is laid face down in front of the dealer and is not to be looked at until after the trading is finished. (This card is the market-card and shows whether the market closes up or down.) At the rap of the dealer the trading of cards begins and continues until some player has accumulated the six long cards or six short cards of some one series, when he calls the market, and immediately the trading must cease and the dealer must turn the marketcard face up. If the player calling the market should have accumulated a long-card series and the market-card should prove to be a longcard marked Up twenty pts. the player gains six times twenty points-one hundred and twenty points; but if the market-card should prove to be a short card marked Down twenty pts. the player loses six times twenty pointsone hundred and twenty points&c. \Vhether the market-card proves to be a long card or a short card, it is evident that the other five cards of that series are held by one or more of the players, and each card so held (of the same series as the market-card) gains one point for each point indicated on the marketcard except when the straddle is held, and then the player neither gains nor loses, or, in

The name indicating the stock associated 1 other words, he is straddling the market.

I am aware that prior to my invention packs of cards have been in use wherein trading or exchange of cards is a feature and wherein commodities, such as stocks, have designated the cards, and I therefore do not claim those features as original; but

What I do claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pack of improved playing-cards for use in a game simulating stock-exchange transactions, the cards being divided into general groups, to wit, one group of short cards each of which bears on its face a symbol indicating that it is a short card, and a group of long cards each of which bears on its face a symbol indicating that it is a long card, and each of said groups being subdivided into smaller groups of which all the cards in each group bear characters indicating the name of a specific marketable stock, substantially as herein described.

2. A pack of improved playing-cards for use in a game simulating stock-exchange transactions consisting of a straddle card, and a series of cards which are divided into two general groups, to wit, one group of short cards each of which bears on its face a symbol which indicates that it is a short card, and a group of long cards each of which bears on its face a symbol indicating that it is a long card, substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, February 15, 1904.

JAMES HERBERT WHITELAW.

Witnesses:

WM. D. YOUNG, E. H. GEHLBAGH. 

